Orascom Telecom offers to buy Raya

Cairo, July 17, 2007

The bourse said Orascom offered to pay 12 pounds ($2.11) per share, just above Tuesday's closing price at 11.25 pounds.

Raya chairman Medhat Khalil, reacting to the announcement, said: 'We are not considering selling any shares in the company, and the price offered in the tender is very naive.'

'There were no negotiations of any kind before the announcement. We have not been contacted by OT,' he said.

Raya operates in mobile phone distribution and IT services. It has a paid-in capital of 285 million pounds distributed over some 57 million shares.

Walaa Hazem, senior telecom analyst at HC Securities, said Raya's shareholders were unlikely to accept the offer at the current price level.

'This is a very low price,' he added.

Orascom Telecom, headed by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, is one of the biggest mobile firm in the Middle East, with operations in countries including Algeria, Iraq, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Egypt.